The expansion of cultural arts programming has created widespread interest in the arts since 2005. Current cultural arts programming ranges from public displays at the regional Lewis Library and Technology Center located at 8437 Sierra Avenue, and citywide cultural outreach at the Art Depot located at 16822 Spring Street, to the grand opening of the renovated Center Stage Theater located at 8463 Sierra Avenue and events like Music under the Stars at the new outdoor amphitheater at Miller Park, located at 17004 Arrow Boulevard. Each is evidence of how one of the fastest growing cities in the Inland Empire, and one of the nation’s 100 Best Communities for Youth, as named by America’s Promise Alliance, has successfully focused on enhancing quality of life through the arts amidst a period of unprecedented growth spurts.

The boom in Fontana’s master planned communities has led to spaces where residents can join neighbors in Healthy Fontana walking clubs leading along wide paths surrounded by green space, as well as have the convenience of nearby shopping and recreational amenities. Daily, developments from some of the region’s leaders of the industry are creating neighborhoods where people are involved in shaping the future of their community. Right in stride with these new developments the City Council have been investing in the aging infrastructure of the city by reinvesting sales tax dollars into an architectural and intellectual renaissance of the downtown civic center campus. The result has been the creation of a cultural hub for art aficionados.

Lewis Library and Technology Center

The investment in the Lewis Library and Technology Center, a 93,000 square foot regional library has fast been lauded by the press and by the end of opening weekend made San Bernardino County Library history by having over 15,000 visitors. The structure was built to help support the rising population within the city and region, as well provide citizens with the resources to grow.

“It is a place where knowledge can be shared,” says Mayor Pro Tem Acquanetta Warren.

In the design of the library, the Mayor and Council strongly felt that an architectural edge bent on warmth and sophistication was needed to bring the community together and create the type of feeling among residents and visitors that this is a city filled with pride.

“The library represents the first new significant building in our Fontana Civic Center,” says Mayor Mark Nuaimi, “It represents the new Fontana – proud of our past but looking brightly toward our future.”

Contained within the blueprint of the new library is a heavy investment in the arts with a performance-based 330-seat Steelworkers’ Auditorium as well as exhibits from California artists strategically placed throughout the facility.

Where once a library contained books, desks, and card catalogues, the Lewis Library and Technology Center is filled with significant pieces of art that reflect upon the past with sculptures of Henry J. Kaiser and a bust of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., celebrate the present with aluminum cut screens lining the windows of a rotunda creating rainbow prisms in the great hall, and highlight the fun of the future through an interactive projection screen Text Rain by Camille Utterback. The interactive art creates droplets of letters to create words upon the heads of those who stand or walk by, spelling titles of children’s books. The art is located near the entrance to the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Children’s Library. A special dedication and grand opening will be held on Saturday, June 21, 2008.

The Lewis Library and Technology Center was just one feature of the downtown cultural revival. The Mayor and City Council have a track record of investment in art programs that celebrate local artists and cultural diversity within the community and Inland Empire.

Architecturally, the statement made was in the form of the renovated Art Depot, a little west of the Lewis Library and Technology Center. Here council, with forethought for the cultural needs of a diverse community, took a vacant building and turned it into a regional attraction for local artists and art lovers.

Art Depot

The Art Depot now serves as a gallery and learning center for residents. Whether one wishes to view works by Southern California artists, learn about art or a new technique, or purchase art at the Art in the Park celebration, the Art Depot is the place to go.

The quarterly artist showcase is a growing cornerstone of the cultural arts program. Past showcases have featured artists who use acrylics, sculpture, and tile, as well as those who have incorporated a variety of materials into their masterpieces. The result has been a wide range of genres and materials displayed at City Hall and the gallery at the Art Depot. Each quarter the artists themselves are recognized at a reception by the Council and introduced to the public at a Family Art Day event that includes artist demonstrations, live entertainment (bands, story tellers, and more) as well as a post event viewing of the gallery.

Classes and free art days are also great successes at the Art Depot. Class subjects include Still Life Drawing, Polymer Clay Modeling, and Beginning Ceramics. Sessions are affordably priced and are designed to teach the artist of any age group. Those looking for a one-day event often learn about art genres and techniques through the free weekly Open Studio sessions where people create masterful impressions of great works by Pollock, Warhol, and Van Gough or learn more about world cultures through origami, Tona animal masks, and other studies. The subjects are endless and the studios usually teach up to 100 people per week. As an added feature, the Fontana Cultural Arts program has joined with the Fontana Art Association to construct a new series of classes, including classes designed specifically for children with developmental disabilities.

The Art Depot is the home of an annual Art in the Park. The event is filled with artist demonstrations, art displays, live entertainment, and lots of adults, children, and fun. The purpose of Art in the Park is to introduce the public to a variety of artistic styles and teach them how to do the same at home. Live 45 minute demonstrations are featured throughout the day with some residents attending the sessions, talking directly to artists, and purchasing some of the art itself. This type of citizen involvement in the arts was one of the reasons city council made the decision to invest in the downtown civic center. The 2008 Art in the Park is Saturday, November 15.

The Art Depot will present Pablo Damas the featured quarterly artist for Out of the Ordinary a show representing an eclectic style without any traditional scope or borders on Tuesday, July 8. The Family Art Day, which is open to the public and will include demonstrations from Mr. Damas, hands on activities, and live entertainment, is Saturday, July 12. The Art Depot Gallery is open Tuesdays through Thursdays from 10:00 am – 8:00 pm, Fridays from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm and Saturdays from 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm. The Open Studio is open to the public on Fridays from 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm and Saturdays from 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm. For information about the artists or the showcase, please call the gallery at (909) 356-7184. To find out more about the showcase, being considered for the showcase or the annual Art in the Park, please contact Courtney Hodnick at (909) 356-7184.

Center Stage Theater

The Center Stage Theater, a magnificently renovated structure situated just south of the Lewis Library and Technology Center was originally designed by famed architect CH Boller in 1937, before Fontana was even incorporated. Originally designed as a movie theater, the building turned hands several times over the years. The theater served as an Elks Lodge, tea shop, stationary store, and was the home of the local Mummers’ Theater recently renamed the Fontana Community Players currently performing Steel Magnolias.

In 2004 the Mayor and City Council surveyed citizens to find there was a definite interest in live theater in Fontana and a desire to save the historic theater. The result was the purchase of the building and the earmarking of $6 million to renovate and expand the building into what is now known as Center Stage.

In warm pastel colors true to the art deco flair of the original building, yet with an added elegance to mirror the new Lewis Library next door, the Center Stage Theater is both inviting and rewarding for citizens. Many see the rehab as a promise kept by council to remain true to Fontana’s history while expanding on the new image the community has within the Inland Empire. With a growing population filled with representatives of the youngest generations and up, Fontana has proven that architecture can create civic pride and an interest in the arts.

Programming at Center Stage will be like none before it in the Inland Empire. City staff has contracted with a professional production company, Stargazer Productions, to provide performances from Tibbies a cabaret troupe based in Long Beach and a staple entertainment feature upon the Queen Mary Cruise Ship.

“In the past, we have had opportunities to open theaters in the Inland Empire, but the work that needed to be done was not being accomplished. In the case of Center Stage, we were brought on as project consultants and formed a very nice relationship with the City of Fontana in the process. We looked at what they were doing and finally, we had found a group who was doing it right,” says Todd Vigiletti, owner of Stargazer Productions.

The Vigilettis’ also see Fontana as the community that will become a model for others within the Inland Empire and all of Southern California. The unique blend of public and private sectors represents a significant new investment into Fontana’s cultural arts.

Adds Vigiletti, “There is an excitement about the nature of the project. We will run the theater as a private sector business with some tax revenue from the ticket sales with the aim of eventually having a profitability for future investment in Fontana’s cultural arts. This will be one project other cities will eye and most likely replicate.”

Similar performances including cabarets and specialty shows will grace the stage in Fontana beginning with the grand opening show on Friday, July 25. To purchase show tickets visit Stargazer Productions online at www.CenterStageFontana.com or call (909) 429-SHOW. For information on Tibbies, please visit www.tibbiescabaret.com.

Miller Park Amphitheater

The growing population of cultural art enthusiasts will continue to flock to the civic center campus during the summer months at the newly designed Miller Park Amphitheater directly east of the Lewis Library and Technology Center at 17004 Arrow Boulevard. Much like the programming at the Art Depot, the Music Under the Stars event and Summer Concert Series events provide residents with a night of enjoyable cultural arts performances and an introduction to different styles of music. The performances will be a favorite pastime as they celebrate a summer-long, citywide recreational medley of Around the World in 8 Weeks.

To find out more about the cultural arts programs, the Steelworkers’ Auditorium, or the outdoor amphitheater at Miller Park, please contact Nathan Hunt at (909) 428-8360 ext. 239.